Before, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Wednesday, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown spoke on what’s important in approaching the game.
New Faces
With injuries, opt-outs and players entering the transfer portal, both teams will have new faces playing.
“They (North Carolina) have several new guys playing and while they’re less experienced, they’re probably going to be more excited about playing in the game,” Brown said.
For the Mountaineers, Corey McIntyre Jr. is a young player they will look to rely on. The freshman from Port St.Lucie, Florida made a tackle in the Duquenese game.
“Corey is a guy that we’re excited about,” Brown said. “We’re able to maintain his redshirt, which is going to be big. He’s really changed his body since June.”
Playing without Zach Frazier
With the injury of center Zach Frazier, the glue to West Virginia’s offensive line, Brown will look to Brandon Yates, who has filled in on the line multiple times this season.
“We have a lot trust in Brandon, he’s made tremendous growth, he’s played at a high level,” Brown said. “We’re gonna treat it the same. Same run plays that we ran when Zach was in, we’re gonna run with Brandon, the same way that we protected with Zach, same way we’re going to protect with Brandon.”
Energy
With Bowl Season, comes massive excitement and grit. Each bowl means a lot to students, players, coaches and fans alike. The Mountaineers have an amazing opportunity to represent on a national level, but will need to be ready to play.
“The only thing I can go on is how we practiced and we’ve had great energy. We practiced hard on Christmas Eve,” Brown said. “It was competitive, we did a ton of good-on-good work and we had great energy. If we can carry that energy that we had in the month of December into the game, which I’m confident we can, than I feel confident about our guys being ready to go.”
Essentials to victory
Brown listed the three biggest factors in bowl games that he sees and they were simple.
“Taking care of the football on offense, simple exchanges, things like that. The second thing is tackling because you don’t really live tackle in the month of December. And the third thing is the special teams and as much of the transitions, is the actual schematics of it. Making sure you got 11 guys on the field, making sure that they understand: ‘Hey people tend to fake punts and field goals a little bit more in bowl games than they do during the traditional season.”
